A new system of checks with electronic intersections for uninsured vehicles, for those that have not passed KTEO and for those that have not paid their road tax, as well as a new framework of penalties for all of the above, the draft law of the Ministry of National Economy provides and Finance.
The bill concerning the integration of Directive (EU) 2021/2118 of the European Parliament and of the Council as well as the implementation of Regulation 2022/858 is posted today for public consultation.
At the same time, the draft law contains provisions for escalating fines related to late payment of traffic fees as well as for the procedure of deactivation and deletion from the vehicle registers.
Additionally, the draft law introduces provisions:
● adaptation to European legislation for the regulation of financial instruments (shares, bonds, etc.) traded using blockchain technology,
● for the clarification of the procedures for the acquisition of owned properties of the State.
Analytically:
New intersection system to detect violations of vehicle traffic obligations
The bill activates a new system of electronic checks using different State databases to identify:
● uninsured vehicles,
● vehicles that have not been subject to a CTEO inspection,
● vehicles whose owners have not paid the road tax or the debts that may arise in case of transfer.
The audits will be carried out on a six-monthly basis by GIS with an electronic cross-check of data from the databases of AADE, the Ministries of Infrastructure and Transport, Citizen Protection, Interior and Immigration and Asylum, the Union of Insurance Companies, from the Register of Insured Vehicles of the Auxiliary Capital , the Alternative Vehicle Management of Greece and TAXISnet.
If violations are detected, the holder of the vehicle’s registration license is notified and the following fines are imposed:
● In case of an uninsured vehicle:
o 1,000 euros for public use buses and trucks,
o 500 euros for passenger cars and other vehicles of any nature,
o 250 euros for the two-wheelers.
● In the event that a traffic tax debt of at least one year is established, the traffic tax due is confirmed in its entirety after the corresponding fine.
● In the event that it is established that the vehicle has not been submitted to a periodic K.T.E.O. technical inspection, the prescribed fine is imposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The owner has the right to appeal within 5 working days from the imposition of the fine. The objection is examined by the Authority which imposes its corresponding fine within 30 working days. If the appeal is accepted, the fines are deleted. If, within 10 working days from the day after the notification of the imposition of a fine or the rejection of the appeal, the owner complies with his obligations regarding the KTEO and the vehicle insurance, the relevant fines are deleted.
It is noted that, after a violation has been established, a new electronic control is carried out in a period of 3 to 12 months from the imposition of the fine. If it is established that the owner has not complied until the new inspection, the vehicle’s registration license and plates are removed, which are only returned upon presentation of the relevant insurance policy or the valid KTEO card or the certificate of non-payment of road tax, as the case may be , and proof of payment of the fine.
Escalated fines in case of late payment of vehicle registration fees
The fines are as follows:
● 25% on the fee if paid within January of the following year from the year of payment,
● 50% of the fee if paid in February,
● 100% if paid after the end of February.
In any case, the fine cannot be less than 30 euros.
Determining the procedure for deactivation and deletion from the Vehicle Registers
It is stipulated that the vehicles that have not been insured, have not been subject to a C.T.E.O. and no road tax has been paid for them in the last 7 years are put into temporary inactivity status. The owners of the vehicles are then notified to either proceed with the final inactivation of the vehicles and their deletion from the registers, or to declare their immobility, or, if they proceed with the necessary actions, to re-circulate them. It also provides for the frequency of controls, the consequences of temporary and permanent inactivity and the penalties for violations of the relevant regulations.
It is noted that:
● Facilitates the deletion of a vehicle that has died and has been handed over for total destruction and recycling. In this case the deletion can be done without the vehicle having been transferred to the heirs.
● In case of use of the vehicle that has been permanently inactive or has been deleted, a fine of 10,000 euros is imposed on the owner, as well as the traffic fees corresponding to the vehicle for the year of detection.
In addition, it is stipulated that if a vehicle for which a declaration of immobility has been submitted is detected in traffic, or is found parked in a different place than that which has been declared, the immobility is lifted and a fine of 10,000 euros is imposed by the AADE in addition to the traffic fees and the non-payment fine their. It is noted that the control is carried out following the issuance of a control order or following electronic crossings by the AADE by extracting data from the highway concessionaires as well as through a special mobile device application for license plate scanning.
Finally, it is provided that if the violation is repeated within five years, then the fine is tripled and the driver’s license of the owner or possessor of the vehicle is revoked for 3 years.
Motor insurance – Defining a coherent framework by incorporating Directive (EU) 2021/2118 (L 430) into national law
This Directive provides:
• The obligation of the Auxiliary Fund to compensate victims of car accidents now also covers the cases where the vehicle that caused the damage was insured, but the insurance company has been placed in insurance liquidation.
• The Auxiliary Fund provides compensation when the insurance company that has gone bankrupt or has been placed in liquidation is based in another member state of the European Union (and a relevant appeal procedure is provided for).
• Uniform format for third-party claims history certificates to enable verification of their authenticity.
• The possibility of submitting the car insurance application online.
In addition to other provisions of the bill, the following are defined:
Necessary provisions for the regulation of financial instruments (shares, bonds, etc.) traded using blockchain technology
The aim is to take implementing measures of Regulation (EU) 2022/858 regarding the infrastructures of the distributed ledger technology market (“Distributed Ledger Technology” or “DLT”). To this end:
● the definition of financial instrument is expanded to include financial instruments (shares, bonds, etc.) traded through blockchain technology (DLT).
● the competent Authority for the implementation of Regulation 2022/858 for investment firms and credit institutions managing multilateral DLT trading mechanisms is defined.
● provisions are introduced on where DLT financial instruments are registered, who are the beneficiaries, how they are transferred and how rights in rem are established.
Amendments to the procedure for the acquisition of property owned by the State
More detail:
● The conditions for submitting a takeover application are changing: Specifically, the condition of having a building for submitting the application is abolished (the existing framework provides that there must be a building that was erected no later than 31.12.1991 in the case of 30-year occupancy and no later than 31. 12.1981 in case of 40 years of possession).
● It is added that a necessary condition for exercising the right is the declaration of the property on the E9 form for at least the previous five years, in order to make it clear that the applicants considered the property to be theirs.
● A ten-day deadline is set for informing the applicant in case supporting documents are missing. The requirement to provide aerial photographs is abolished, as the existence or non-existence of a property is no longer considered.
● The possibility of the State to decide on an exemption from the right of redemption for reasons of public interest is extended. Within six months, the competent Ministries will identify the areas or properties of interest with justification, in order to exclude them from the acquisition process.
● The deadline for submitting the consent of the State Real Estate Company is accelerated to 2 months from 3 months, which was initially foreseen.
The purchase price in special cases of disputing the ownership of the public property is formed with a discount:
● 50% for an applicant who has been recognized by a court of first instance as the owner of the property or who has been listed as the owner in the first cadastral records and an action has been brought by the State or the deadline for bringing an action has not passed.
● 70% if the applicant has filed an appeal against a court decision to recognize ownership of the property by 31.12.2022.
A special provision exists for property that covers the housing needs of the applicant or the original licensor as a result of mass settlement of population groups before 1964. In this case the price corresponds to 20% of the objective value of the property.
In addition, the Committee established at the General Secretariat of Tax Policy and Public Property Committee for the implementation of the acquisition of public properties is reformed.
Finally, with additional provisions:
-The duration of the Concession Agreement between the Greek State and the Corfu Port Authority S.A. is increased, from 40 to 67 years from the date of its signature.
– The contracts of fixed-term private law employees of AADE who have been hired to contribute to the implementation of projects financed by the Recovery and Resilience Fund are extended. In addition, the fixed-term private law contracts of the staff of the General Directorate of Electronic Government and the General Directorate of Financial Services of AADE are extended until 31.12.2025. This extension does not turn them into open-ended contracts.
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